On January 22 of 1938The play "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder is performed publicly for the first time, with its premier performance at the McCarter Theater in Princeton before it opens on Broadway. It is awarded the Pulitzer Prize and adapted for a motion picture version produced in 1940.

On January 21 of 1947Republican Alfred E. Driscoll of Haddonfield is inaugurated, the last governor elected under the New Jersey Constitution of 1844 which set a three-year term for the office and prohibited running for re-election to a consecutive term. In 1949, he subsequently became the first governor elected under the new Constitution of 1947 whose adoption he had advocated, which provided a four-year term and allowed re-election to one successive term.

On January 20 of 1777Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson (later US Senator from New Jersey 1790-93) leads 400 New Jersey militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen in an attack against 500 British soldiers foraging for food near Van Nest’s Mills in Millstone. In the 20-minute battle, about 25 British are estimated killed with 49 soldiers taken prisoner. The Americans suffer five deaths and seize over 100 horses and large supplies of food and cattle.